Modern engines, such as automobile engines and other engines used to drive various vehicles, make prolific use of V-belts. Oftentimes the spaces near the pulleys and V-belts are obstructed with other equipment making manipulation of the V-belts very difficult in applying and removing the V-belts relative to the pulleys.
Generally, but not always, V-belts will embrace three pulleys, but, in some instances, only two pulleys are confined within the runs of a V-belt; and in other instances long V-belts may pass over four or six or more pulleys. The sizes of these various pulleys varies considerably, and in some instances the V-belts will be only two inches in diameter, and in other instances the pulleys may be six or eight inches in diameter, all depending upon the rotary shaft speeds that are employed in the drives and auxiliary devices.
It is commonplace to use stacked pulleys, or multiple groove pulleys for driving numerous belts from a single drive shaft. In somes instances, in order to remove the belts, it is necessary to first remove the outside belt, and then move the other stacked belts from one groove to another and then ultimately off the end or side of the pulley. Application of belts to the correct groove in these stacked pulleys requires considerable belt manipulation.
The cramped quarters adjacent the belt and pulley locations prohibits the use of tools with screwdriver type handles or other large appendages. Accordingly, such prior tools as are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,195,359; 2,505,216; 2,615,345; and 2,621,529, simply cannot be used because of the extremely cramped quarters adjacent such engines and because of the multiplicity of various pulley sizes which must be accommodated. Devices such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,924,109, although of a size to be fitted into cramped quarters, are extremely difficult to operate because of the construction thereof, and further, that many different tools must be in the immediate possession of a mechanic who works with V-belts and pulleys of many different sizes.
Such prior art devices as were previously used in connection with flat belts and pulleys which permitted a device to be clamped to the pulley during application or removal of the belt, are simply not practical in quickly manipulating V-belts while servicing modern engines. Modern pulleys simply do not accommodate attachments for manipulating the belt.